Feels Like Coming Home
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: Season 5 spoilers. Keith returns to the Castle for a visit and is struck by just how much he'd missed the feeling of being home. Pre-relationship Kidge, hinted crushes
1. Chapter 1

Season 5 was great, so naturally I had to write something to celebrate.

Feels Like Coming Home

It felt strange to set foot in the Castle of Lions after being away for what felt like months. In reality, Keith had only been staying at the Blade headquarters for a few weeks and that was only when he wasn't flying off somewhere on a mission. The serenity of the Castle washed over him, filling him with a sense of peace and security.

It was the closest he'd ever come to feeling at home _._

An Altean ship, thousands of light-years from Earth, with a rag-tag group of humans and two Alteans who'd somehow forged a family, at least to his eyes, and it was _home._ There was no other place that even came close to being the same. Not the Garrison. Not the shack in the desert. Not the Blade of Marmora headquarters.

For a moment, he forgot why he'd come back and let himself stop and relax, soaking in the atmosphere. He hadn't realized he'd missed it so much.

"Keith?"

A gentle hand coming to rest on his shoulder drew him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Krolia – his mother – standing there with a soft expression on her face. (And he would never get used to that. His _mother._ He'd found her, somehow. She was _real_ and alive and right in front of him and he still found it impossible to believe.)

"I'm okay," Keith said, looking away from her. "The others are probably on the bridge." He waited until she moved her hand away and then led the way through the familiar halls of the Castle, only slowing when he spotted a familiar figure leaving a room up ahead.

Pidge froze when she saw the pair of them, her brown eyes widening and her lips parting in surprise. There was a split second when he thought she was going to yell at him, but instead she breathed out what he thought might be his name and ran toward him. On instinct, Keith opened his arms just as she wrapped hers around him and pressed her face against his chest.

"Pidge, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she murmured against his uniform. "A lot has happened and I just... it's so good to see you." Pidge pulled away, tears glimmering at the corners of her eyes. "We found him, Keith. We found my dad!"

The sight of her smile – not a grin of triumph or that little smirk she did whenever she made fun of Lance, but a real, genuine smile – had something in his chest doing tiny somersaults. "You found Commander Holt? That's great, Pidge! I, uh, I found someone too," he told her, stepping to the side to let her fully see Krolia. And suddenly he was nervous for a whole new reason. "Pidge, this is Krolia. She's... she's my mother."

"Oh!" Pidge's tiny gasp echoed through the hall and for a moment, all she could do was stare at the Galra woman. She recovered quickly, her smile growing even bigger as she looked back to Keith. "Do you want me to get the others? I think Allura and Lance are in the training room, but I'm not sure about Hunk, Shiro, and Coran."

"We were heading to the bridge to find you guys," Keith said.

"We'll go together," Pidge said, lingering a moment longer before stepping away from him. "Just give me one minute and I'll let the others know you want to see them."

Keith tried to call her back, but she was gone before he could stop her, disappearing back into the room she'd just exited.

Behind him, Krolia chuckled. "I know that look."

"What look?"

Krolia chose not to elaborate, merely patting her son on the shoulder once again. He'd figure it out in time, just like his father did. (That sulking pout though? That was all her.)


	2. Chapter 2

Uhhh, so I wrote a second part?

Part 2

Pidge's back hit the door the moment it slid shut and she leaned against it for support, her heart heavily pounding in her chest. She could feel her cheeks heating up and knew that she must be blushing profusely. Hopefully Keith hadn't noticed.

She's let herself get so wrapped up in her joy at seeing him again that she'd completely missed the second person standing just behind him. A person who she'd just made a complete fool of herself in front of.

She groaned and let her head fall back against the door. What was she _thinking_ , running at him like that? Maybe she'd let herself be too free with her emotions since getting her brother and dad back. There was also the fact that any of her down time was spent in the company of Hunk and Lance, neither of whom believed in personal space. Hugs were just a part of the daily routine and it made her feel more at home than ever.

"Pull it together, Katie," she told herself.

Okay.

So she hugged him.

No big deal.

She only hugged the guy she'd had a crush on ever since the time they took the Castle of Lions back from Sendak. Nothing weird about that.

It wasn't even the first time she'd done it, so why was she freaking out so badly? (Probably because last time, it had been a group hug, initiated by Hunk.)

There were far better things for her to be concerned about. Or rather, excited about. Like the fact that Keith's _mother_ was standing right outside the door with him. She knew he'd been curious about his Galra heritage – it was the whole reason he left to train with the Blade of Marmora – but for him to actually find her? It sounded impossible, but she would be the last person to ever believe that it was. After all, everyone had told her that it was impossible for her father and brother to be alive. Everyone had told her that the Kerberos mission was a failure and the ship crashed due to pilot error.

She pushed those thoughts away and refocused.

Krolia.

Even at a glance she could tell they were related. There were too many similarities for them not to be. And Keith never would have brought her to the Castle if he didn't believe it was true.

Pidge pushed away from the door and dug her refurbished phone from her pocket, quickly typing a message to the rest of the team.

 _Keith's here and wants everyone to meet on the bridge._

She waited until she received several messages which either proclaimed surprise or curiosity, but all promised to make their way to the chosen meeting spot. With that finished, Pidge took a deep breath and prepared herself to go back into the hall and face him, hopefully without giving away how much she liked him.

One day, there would be time for that. One day, when the war was over and true peace was won. One day, Earth wouldn't be under constant threat from an Empire they stood little chance fighting against on their own.

Maybe then she could follow her heart.


End file.
